Browsing: East Africa

Dubai’s non-oil trade with Africa will exceed AED 1 trillion for the period extending from 2011 until the end of 2019, according to Majid Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman of Dubai Chamber. The business leader noted that it had already reached AED926 billion in the 2011-2018 period.

H.E. Al Ghurair who was speaking at the fifth edition of the Global Business Forum Africa (GBF Africa) in Dubai as the two-day forum, asserting that the African continent is a key partner in Dubai’s plans to diversify its economy.

Organised by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dubai Chamber) under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

In his opening speech, H.E. Majid Saif Al Ghurair highlighted the long-established UAE-African relations in all fields, and Dubai’s status as Africa’s gateway to new markets building on its strong presence …

More than 66 per cent of total employment is Sub-Saharan Africa is from the informal sector, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has revealed, the biggest provider of employment in Africa.

Informal economies are typically characterised by low productivity and non-exportable goods and services.

READ ALSO:Sectors that will grow West Africa’s 15 economies

On the other hand, the sector also provides crucial livelihoods to the most vulnerable of the urban poor.

It is projected that the informal sector is likely to absorb many of the continent’s young employment seekers who are mainly today’s millennial digital natives – educated, learned and very adaptive to global trends.

READ ALSO:Industry Review: Jua Kali sector in East Africa

The Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) recently has held its 18^th Africa Resource Bank Forum in Nairobi in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom(FNF), under the theme: “The Future of Africa’s Informal …

Five East Africa Community member countries have together amassed more than $100 billion in foreign and domestic debt, stretching their repayment budgets to the limit.

The rapid loans build-up has pushed East African countries close to a debt crisis, putting the region’s long-term economic stability at risk.

Kenya and Burundi have the highest loan distress profiles compared to other EAC countries with their debt -GDP ratios projected to exceed 60 per cent this year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers a 50 per cent debt to GDP ratio to be within the tolerable limit for developing economies such as the EAC members.

In its latest Regional Economic Outlook report, IMF warned that some EAC countries are already facing increased foreign exchange and refinancing risks which he advised that it is important to enhance a debt management frameworks and transparency.

Kenya’s debt-to-GDP ratio is on its way to hit 61.6 per …

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company has announced  that it is launching an Amazon CloudFront Edge location in Kenya, which is expected to be operational in early 2020.

Amazon CloudFront is a highly secure and highly available Content Delivery Network (CDN) that accelerates the delivery of applications, data, and videos to users worldwide, with high transfer speeds.

READ ALSO:Kenya Space Agency intensifies use of science to curb drought

Kenya is the latest country to be connected to AWS’s global infrastructure network, which is designed and built to deliver the most flexible, reliable, scalable, and secure cloud computing environment with the highest quality network performance available today.

Customers across all industries in Kenya are benefitting from the flexibility, scalability, and security of the AWS cloud.

The improved and faster user experience, with local Amazon CloudFront infrastructure, will help in driving the development of even more web applications across …

Silafrica, a leading packaging company in Africa that supplies plastic packaging throughout East Africa, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania is set to be the first African company to employ the Smart Crate technology. Designed especially for produce, Smart Crates are scheduled to be in production within six months.

The RFID and NFC tag technologies provide some important logistical advantages previously unavailable to the produce industry. A crate equipped with RFID can be tracked throughout its entire journey by scanning at routine checkpoints. NFC tags collect and store data, which can be quickly accessed by simply tapping a smartphone against the tag. The vented crates also offer improved air flow, keeping produce fresher during transit from farm to market.

Using smart crate RFID and NFC tag technologies also makes managing the distribution of produce more streamlined and predictable. Now, companies like Twiga Foods, who sources crops from more than eight …

Debt across East Africa continues to grow with Kenya’s risk of debts increasing from low to moderate.

Burundi has also joined a group of nine African countries with a high risk of debt distress. According to a US-based research firm, Brookings Institution, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania rank among the top 50 countries in the world that are highly indebted to China.

According to the report, such countries are now shifting away from official multilateral creditors to non-concessional, (commercial) debt with relatively higher interest rates and lower maturities.

This has caused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to raise a red flag over the rate at which East African countries are accumulating debt. Raising concerns about debts sustainability, the risk of higher refinancing of the debts and foreign exchange risks.

East African economies have fallen into a financial fix as they attempt to fund persistent budget deficits and implementing mega infrastructure projects …

Kenya and Jordan are in talks on deepening trade and bilateral ties, in the latest of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s charm offensive to attract investments to the East African nation.

Kenyatta on Tuesday held talks with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan where the two leaders discussed the progress in trade and bilateral relations between the two countries.

The leaders, who want their two countries to establish special status relations, directed their respective ministries to fast track the implementation of bilateral trade agreements.

READ ALSO:Kenya signs 8 treaties spreading wings to remote territories

President Kenyatta and King Abdullah II also discussed the progress by their respective nations in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

President Kenyatta and the Jordanian King met on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII), a global financial conference hosted in Saudi Arabia where 40 countries are taking part.

The two leaders also …

DIB Bank Kenya Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, has opened a new branch in Kenya as it moves to expand its network in the East African nation.

The latest branch was opened in the coastal town of Mombasa, bringing to two, the number of the bank’s branches at the port city.

This comes barely a week after launching a new branch in Nairobi’s Eastleigh suburb.

Located East of the Central Business District, Eastleigh is predominantly inhabited by Somali immigrants. It is described as “Little Mogadishu”, as well as “a country within a country with its own economy” on account of its robust business sector.

The second Mombasa branch is located at Bondeni area which is also largely inhabited by the Muslim community.

According to the bank’s management, the new branches are geared at enhancing the bank’s reach at key business locations to cater for its …

Industries and households in Kenya could soon be out of frequent power interruptions and outages as Kenya Power kicks off live maintenance of power lines.

The programme launched on Monday this week is meant to reduce planned electricity shutdowns, enhance stability of power supply and improve revenue generation.

READ ALSO:How Kenya Power plans to manage electricity tariffs

The launch follows the completion of the pilot phase where more than 70 staff were trained to carry out maintenance of live power lines.

During the pilot phase, eight insulated trucks and three digger derricks were also acquired.

Following the success of the pilot phase, the World Bank has funded the programme to a tune of $20 million (about Ksh2 billion) for procurement of additional insulated trucks, tools and accessories, training of staff in live line maintenance techniques and establishment of a laboratory for testing live line equipment.

READ ALSO:World bank

Kenya is on the right path in the fight against corruption, The International Monetary Fund has said.

IMF Director for African Department Abebe Selassie has commended President Uhuru Kenyatta for spearheading the war against corruption, saying the country was well.

According to Abebe, the IMF is satisfied with the stable economic growth that averages between 5.5 per cent and 6.0 per cent as a result of the ongoing fiscal reforms that the Kenyan Government is implementing to ensure macroeconomic stability.

READ ALSO:Kenya whets investor appetite with Special Economic Zone

“Because of this, Kenya is a leading light in terms of economic reforms and growth in the region,” Selassie said.

The Director for the African Department of the IMF spoke on Monday when he paid the President a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi.

During the meeting, the President and Mr Selassie discussed the relationship between Kenya and the Bretton …